


Bitter Coffee

by ToastyDehmer



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cute, Early Mornings, Fluff, I mean, Jack's alive, M/M, Personal Assistant Rhys (Borderlands), Rhys can sing, Rhys is Handsome Jack's Personal Assistant, Singing, Sweetness, have you heard troy baker's voice?, there's art, woooooooo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 16:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18760333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToastyDehmer/pseuds/ToastyDehmer
Summary: Jack wakes up early and hears someone singing in his office.





	Bitter Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Based on an idea from the Rhack Discord Server I'm in. Thank you [Otter-san](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarfruitHoney/pseuds/StarfruitHoney) for this idea! Hope you like it! It was nice doing something quick and easy like this for a change! Hope ya'll like it too!

It was early. Waaaay too friggin’ early for Jack to be up but here he was trudging his way to his office in a sour mood, missing his coffee and praying to a God he didn’t believe in that Rhys was at the office this early. He knew the kid was often there before him but he never cared to find out just _how_ early Rhys arrived. He could’ve asked Meg. Maybe. What time did she even get in? Didn’t matter. Well maybe it did.

Christ, how early did the kid get there and would Lady Luck be merciful enough to have Rhys there waiting for him with his cup of coffee like always? Or would Jack have to go through the process of making a cup that would forever be subpar.

His machine liked Rhys. That had to be the reason why coffee always tasted better when Rhys made it.

(No he wasn’t in denial. Denial? Who was that? Jack never heard of her.)

As the private elevator made its way down towards the antechamber to his office, Jack was stuck thinking about the leggy brunette. The kid was cute with a blush like there was no tomorrow that went past his cheeks and down his neck before hiding beneath his shirt. Jack wondered just how far down that flush trailed under those clothes.

Rhys had a nice smile too. The small shy ones were just adorable. The smug grins were amusing. The startled ones gave Jack a chuckle. And those embarrassed ones? Cackles were the only thing Jack had for them.

Those eyes were nice too. A warm whisky brown and a manmade beaut of a blue. He loved how that cybernetic eye would light up as the kid worked, flickering here and there. Jack personally loved it best when the kid got immensely flustered because if Jack was close enough, he could see the imperceptible fluctuation of the pupil malfunctioning. It was only there if someone looked for it and Jack knew exactly what to look for when it came to his company’s products. That specific fault was characteristic of the initial volunteer trials for the eye and when Jack had gotten curious enough to look it up, he wasn’t disappointed.

Out of twenty-five volunteers, little Rhysie was among the seven to live past the initial surgery. Cupcake was made of some resilient stuff if Jack had to say so himself. Which he did. But was he resilient enough to get up at the buttcrack of dawn? Or at least what constituted as the buttcrack of dawn on Helios.

Soon enough Jack found himself on the floor to his office and he stepped out. A quick check to the side showed that no, Meg was not in yet. Well, that answered one of his questions. And if he was being honest with himself, it likely answered his other question.

He sighed and just as Jack was about to resign himself to a morning with subpar coffee, he stopped as he heard something. A few meters from his office he halted and strained his ears to hear it again. What was it? Jack took a couple steps closer. It soon became clear.

It was humming. Someone was in his office humming. But who? If Meg wasn’t here then Jack _really_ doubted Rhys would be. Jack drew his gun, marched forward, and was about to knock down his door when he heard it and again froze in his tracks.

“If I’m to die  
Before we spend a soft day,   
Know my final thoughts will be of regret.”

Jack crept closer and pressed an ear to the doors, mesmerized by that pretty voice, absently re-holstering his pistol.

“If I’m to drown  
In the deep sea that part us,   
I once lived and loved, don’t forget.”

Was that Rhys? He blinked and his lips parted. Jack faintly recognized the song but the emotion in it coming from Rhys was sincere.

“Give all my socks to Vaughn,” Rhys huffed a laugh through that first line but didn’t let it stop him from continuing.

“Tell all my good friends  
That I didn’t dare earn their respect.”

Jack very carefully slipped open the door and inside his office, careful not to make a sound and the next verse hit him more clearly than before. God the kid had a beautiful voice.

“Oh, I hope to be seeing you soon.  
I don’t know what happens if I leave my room   
Oh I’m scared that you’ll know what to do”

Rhys was in the middle of waiting for the coffee-maker to finish their first pot. He had his back to Jack and was going through emails using the holoprojector in the palm of his hand. Jack could only see a portion of his face and the younger man looked so somber. It ached him to see Rhys this way.

Slowly and just as silently as when he opened and closed the door, Jack crept closer to Rhys.

“If I’m to die before you.”

That gave Jack a pause but it was only momentary before he was back to moving closer, his heart hurting at the honest sadness he heard in Rhys’ voice.

“If I’m to die before you…”

As the last line was whispered out, Jack gently wrapped his arms around Rhys’ waist and laid his chin on the brunette’s shoulders.

“Need a Hero to beat up an ex for you, kiddo?” Jack hummed the question and whatever tension Rhys had built between the moment he felt Jack’s touch and heard his voice quickly fell away. Rhys groaned and gently extricated himself from Jack’s hold before turning around, hips up against the edge of the table. He looked at Jack mildly exasperated. The younger man crossed his arms and finally spoke up.

“How many times have I asked you _not_ to call me ‘kiddo’? Or come up behind me like that?”

Behind Rhys the percolator chugged away, the drip of coffee barely audible.

Jack shrugged and came in close again with a smirk, hands going on either side of Rhys and splaying on the table, trapping Rhys between Jack’s arms. Rhys watched him, drily unamused but there was the cute blush painting his cheeks an adorable shade of pastel pink.

“Enough times to know the dangers and accept one day I may be the unlucky man who gets clocked in the face by that beautiful piece of work you’ve got for an arm?” the CEO hedged with a wink.

Rhys snorted and turned his head, hiding his smile behind his metal hand. The blush grew and and spread across the bridge of his nose. Jack loved it.

“You didn’t answer my question, you know.” Rhys gave Jack a confused look. The smile dropped and Jack asked again, “Who’s got you making such a sad face and singing a song like that, pumpkin? Need Jack to set someone straight for you?”

Rhys blinked and for whatever reason started chuckling. Jack- he hadn’t been expecting that. Maybe a thankful sigh or a hopeful yes but laughter? Jack slowly reared his head back and eyed Rhys with a raised eyebrow. Did he somehow break Rhys? After all the other crap the kid witnessed and dealt with, would _this_ be what finally broke his so-far best PA? Didn’t seem to make any sense.

“No, you don’t-” Rhys snorted, shook his head and tried again. “I’d rather you didn’t beat them up Jack.”

“Oh? And why’s that? Think I can’t handle them?” Jack gave Rhys a flat look. Rhys only stifled _another_ chuckle. What the heck? Jack’s face fell further and he growled out, “What’s so friggin’ funny, Rhys.”

“Nothing, nothing!” He waved off Jack and Jack only came in closer, eyes narrowed. His nose was barely a few inches from Rhys’. “It’s just-”

He stopped and bit the inside of his cheek, suddenly looking unsure. Well Jack had enough of not knowing. He deftly grabbed Rhys’ chin between two fingers and forced Rhys’ head up to look him in the eye.

“Spit it out.”

Rhys’ blush suddenly bloomed. It stretched all across his cheeks bones and down his neck and dipping beneath his shirt and bringing Jack back to the thoughts he had in the elevator of finding out just how far down that blush went underneath his clothes and how cute he looked-

“It’s just…” Jack was brought out of his mind and he looked between both of Rhys’ eyes. “It’d be kind of hard to beat yourself up, Jack.”

His mind stuttered to a halt.

“What.”

Rhys breathed a laugh through his nose and gave Jack one of those small smiles that Jack only rarely was able to catch, Rhys always turning as soon as Jack looked. He never knew what to call those kinds of smiles but looking at it now, after hearing what Rhys just told him, Jack thought he now knew what those were about.

Jack softly smiled and rubbed his thumb just below Rhys’ lips.

“You saying you got a crush on me, Rhysie?”

Rhys looked away and there was that flutter of the mechanical pupil.

“Maybe a little more than a crush,” Rhys admitted in a hushed whisper.

“Me too, kiddo. Me too.”

Rhys suddenly looked back at Jack in aggravation and all Jack could think looking at his face was, _‘God I wanna kiss him.’_

And as the coffee maker went off and Rhys opened his mouth to complain about the nickname Jack knew he despised, that’s just was Jack did.

**Author's Note:**

> The song Rhys sings here is [If I'm To Die by Keaton Henson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3pwPgRwGmI). One lyric is different (socks and Vaughn obviously) but otherwise it's all the same.
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> Art by [Spacefall](https://spacefall.tumblr.com/) and you can find their Borderlands blog [right here](https://sf-bl.tumblr.com/)!!!
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> Was this cute enough for ya'll? lol


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